Dinner Last Night: Roasted Cauliflower and White Cheddar Soup

Our Seattle sunshine has surprised everyone and decided to stick into early October, illuminating our city in a golden, autumn light.  While it isn't quite feeling like fall, I decided that in my kitchen, it will at least taste like fall!  I've been waiting for chilly air to set in so I could kick off the season with soups, but I figured, soup is really delicious in any weather, so why wait?

First up, roasted cauliflower and white cheddar soup.  The recipe calls for "aged white cheddar," I used Kerrygold white cheddar, and I subbed in milk for cream, both substitutions didn't seem to change the outcome too much.  This soup was delicious, and very easy to make.  In addition, it was filling without being overly rich (you could always lighten it further by cutting the cream and adding in more vegetable stock).  What soup should I make nex?

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Rachel's Wish

"On July 23, 2011, nine-year-old Rachel Beckwith was killed in a tragic car accident on highway I-90 near Seattle, Washington. After her death, thousands of people all around the world started donating to her mycharity: water fundraising page, and over the course of a month, raised over $1.2 million in Rachel’s honor. That money is now helping 60,000 people get access to clean water.

It's been exactly a year since the accident. In honor of the anniversary, Rachel’s mom, Samantha, and her grandparents, Richard and Roseanne, visit Ethiopia with charity: water and meet some of the people Rachel helped." - quoted from Vimeo

Rachel Beckwith's Mom Visits Ethiopia. from charity: water on Vimeo.

I saw this video posted on facebook, and it immediately brought tears to my eyes.  It's an emotional, moving story about how one person can make a difference.  If you have 5 minutes, I encourage you to take the time to watch this.

video/vimeo

Happy Weekend + Link Love

Happy Weekend!  I'm so excited for an extra day off to relax and soak up some quality time with my husband.  We're off to take a ferry ride to the San Juan Islands.  The last time I was at this particular island, I was a high school camper.  My bunkmates and I sailed there and set up a tarp tent and campfire on the beach.  Needless to say, my return visit will surely be a little different!  What are you up to this weekend?

Link love from around the web....

+ blue glass tutorial

+ guacamole bruschetta?  yes, please!

+ 50 fun and cheap date ideas

+ dark chocolate cake batter cookies with sea salt...'nuff said

+ DIY lace candle holder

+ love kate midleton's style!

+ spicy peanut and chicken quesadillas

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Seattle Gets Even Greener

Big news here in Seattle! The Seattle City Council voted to ban plastic bags in grocery stores and charge a 5-cent fee on paper bags. Looks like reusable bags for everyone is the way of the future!

I've already accrued my own stash of reusable tote bags, but I guess I shall be investing in some more! I already have my eye on this one...

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The Kind Thing

Do you pay it forward? You know, when you receive a random act of kindness, you pay it forward to someone else - spreading positivity and kindness like wildfire? For all you Seattleites out there, Do the KIND Thing follows the pay it forward model, empowering people to make the world a little kinder and the local community in the process. Pretty cool, right?

Here's the scoop: each month, KIND challenges a new city to carry out a specific act of kindness. The Seattle challenge is to pass along a book, newspaper, or magazine they've enjoyed to someone else on Tuesday, September 6th (our first day of school, how fitting), so that another person may enjoy it too! That's pretty easy, don't you think?

Then, if enough people sign up to complete this mission, KIND pays it forward with one BIG KIND Act for the local community, teaming up with Whole Kids Foundation - which in Seattle is building a sustainable garden for a Seattle school, meant to educate and empower children to make more nutritious choices.

So check it out and if you're able, do the KIND thing, pass on a book to keep the spread the kindness going!

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Giant Jenga

How cool is this!? Apparently there is a giant jenga set in my fair city, and I had no idea! This particular jenga set was played in the up and coming Seattle neighborhood, Georgetown, at their Georgetown carnival. I can't get over how fun this looks! I want to play next!

(photos via not martha)

Supercalifragilistic

Tonight my mom and I went to see Mary Poppins at the Paramount in downtown Seattle. It was practically perfect in every way! As we were watching the musical production, memories of our lovingly worn Mary Poppins VHS came flooding back. I remember playing this movie many a time as a kid, singing along to A Spoonful of Sugar, Chim-Chim-Cher-ee, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and beyond. What fun!

We grabbed pumpkin curry at a local Thai Giner before walking over to the theatre, and enjoyed swaying along to our favorite tunes. Now instead of correcting papers and catching up on emails, I'm finding myself wanting to master the ability to pull ridiculously large items out of my handbag, fly through the air on an umbrella, and fly a kite up to the highest height!

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May Day

Just in time for May, it's a gorgeous sunny day in my fair city. Happy May Day everyone!

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World's Coolest Penthouse

Is this not the world's coolest penthouse? It's like a geometrical wonderland, and it's all atop Seattle's very own Smith Tower (which back in 1914, was the tallest building West of the Mississippi!). The penthouse, affectionately known as "The Lighthouse," resides in this mostly commercial building as the tip-top residence, 462 feet above Seattle. What a way to grow up!

via youaremyfave

/nytimes

Weekend in Review

This weekend was a busy one for me. Saturday, my parents joined my bf and I at our local state fair - The Puyallup Fair. Puyallup is located about an hour outside Seattle, and the fair is the city's claim to fame. It truly is quite an event as it runs 7 days a week for 3 full weeks. And this past Saturday was an especially gorgeous sunny day, so the crowds were out in full force.

I haven't been to the fair in a few years, and this year was nice to just mull around and see indulge in delicious and un-nutritious fair foods like corn dogs, caramel apples, roasted corn, strawberry shortcake, and of course - Puyallup's signature fair scones.

We perused the barns, cows, goats, pigs with piglets (so cute), horses, even the chickens and birds. This barn was particularly entertaining as there were some funny looking hens in here! Check out the long legs on this little guy!

Saturday night, as if we hadn't gotten enough fried foods in us, we headed out to Fremont Oktoberfest - a favorite annual Seattle event of ours. We met up with friends, sampled some local beers, and enjoyed some savory brats. All in all, a fantastic festivity-filled weekend!

Librarians do Gaga

I just read about this - librarians from my alma mater, the University of Washington did a librarian-themed spoof to Lady Gaga's Poker Face. It's apparently been viewed a lot of youtube, pretty funny!

Zoo Day

It's not even July 4th yet and I'm happy to report I've checked one thing off my summer to-do list! Last week, my boyfriend and I spent a sunny afternoon cruising our local Woodland Park Zoo. It was such a fun, relaxing afternoon, we even got to see the new animals - the meerkats, which are hilarious! Yay for zoo days, so much fun!

Rain, Rain Go Away

It's been dreary, rainy, and utterly blah in Seattle lately. Contrary to popular belief, this time of year is usually quite lovely and pleasant. A typical year would render sunny, breezy, and mid-70's temperatures. (Sigh). Thus, I'm waiting for one of those sweet sunny days to return again so I can make this - watermelon lemonade. All the best flavors of summer!

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Spring Flowers

What is your favorite flower? I've decided my fave flower changes seasonally. I'm always a fan of peonies, sunflowers, and tulips (among others) - but right now I'm ravenous for ranunculus! I just learned of the Ranunculus Fields and Festival in Carlsbad, California. Doesn't that sound gorgeous? A "spectacular sea of bright colors!"

Now, here in the Northwest, we may not be known for ranunculus, but we are famous for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, in Mt. Vernon, about an hour North of Seattle. The day trip is so worth it! On a sunny Spring day, the views are simply stunning, and the tulip buds stretch on for miles. It's truly breathtaking. But I can only imagine how lovely field upon field of beautiful ranunculus must look on a Spring day.

Anyone ever been to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad?

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Lavender Farm

I've just discovered a lavender farm in my backyard! Vashon Island, a short ferry ride away, in Seattle's own Puget Sound is home to many a lavender farm, including Lavender Hill Farms. I'm so excited at this discovery, it'll be a fun day trip during the summer when lavender is in season and the U-Pick fields are open.

Any locals ever been?

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Victory!

This weekend was epic in Washington football. My alma mater the University of Washington Huskies defeated #3 ranked USC in the ultimate Pac-10 upset of the season! USC is a tough-to-beat, all-star team that historically pretty much destroys everyone and everything in their path. Led by our new coach Sarkisian and QB Jake Locker, the Huskies managed to out-match the Trojans 16-13 at home. Now USC is out of the top 10, and Washington is ranked (for the first time in 6 years). Quite a milestone!

Seattle was a frenzy of excitement Saturday evening, with the new catchphrase "Bark for Sark," on everyone's lips! It was a great day to be a Husky!!

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Totally Tulips

Saturday was a gorgeous day in the greater Seattle area, and the tulip festival was fabulous. Turns out we sought out the tulip fields a week too early, but the daffodils bright and lovely, and in full bloom. My boyfriend was wonderful and obligingly took many photos of our Spring day in the fields. (Going for a funny picture, hiding in the daffodil fields).

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Spring Break

My Spring Break adventures are continuing beautifully with lovely Seattle weather. Yesterday I ventured to the quad on the University of Washington campus (my alma mater) for some sun, cherry blossom viewing, and quality people watching.

If you're not familiar with the Seattle area, the quad is the place to people watch. All walks of life, adults, children, and students from all corners of campus come here to congregate, dance, mingle, socialize, see, and be seen, especially when the Seattle sun decides to shine. My friend Carla and I tried to avoid sitting underneath the UW cheer squad practicing stunts, but ended up front row for an impromptu break dance session. That's the quad for you.
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Love the Sun

It's Spring Break this week, so I have a few glorious days off, and for once, the weather is complying! After weeks of rainy, drizzly, gray days, the Seattle sun has returned in full force. Here are a few pictures from my last few days soaking up the sun.

myimages

Neighborhood Flair

The New York Times is giving Seattle a shout out with it's travel article, "Seattle's Quirkiest Neighborhoods." Quirky indeed, try the giant caveman statue clutching a VW bug underneath the Aurora bridge. There's definitely always something out of the ordinary to be discovered in our lovely Northwest corner...

Happy weekend!

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via mrsbliss